Description
Leslie Mendelson released her third studio album, ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ in April 2020, right in the midst of the pandemic. She considered delaying the release, but ultimately decided to make the record available. People were stuck at home and needed music in their lives. It’s amazing how everything just stopped as the quarantine began—the slow down of the everyday grind offered additional time in day to day life for listening. But still there were no shows to play and it wasn’t looking like there would be any in the foreseeable future. So like everyone else, she was relegated to playing music through livestreams. The kicker was that ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ was a rock record. How was she going to present the album on her own without a band? Leslie began to rethink things and figure out a way to perform these songs solo. After a few “virtual livestream shows,” she decided that something new and interesting was happening. Not only did she love being able to connect with people who’d been quarantined for weeks, but she was enjoying the vibe that was happening as she played the songs alone in her room. She felt inspired and decided to record a few of the ones that really worked in a solo acoustic setting. Two covers: John Martyn’s “Head & Heart” and Joni Mitchell’s “People’s Parties” were added for good measure. It resulted in the EP, ‘In The Meantime.’ Years from now with distance from it all, the collection will be a moving little reminder of the times we lived through in 2020.
